


Into the Lair

by alexcat



Series: After the World Ends [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), infinity war fix it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 05:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: To Wakanda they go.





	Into the Lair

After their night off, everyone was subdued. 

Steve was in the kitchen making coffee when Tony came in. 

“Good morning. How are you?”

Tony grunted. “You don’t have to shout. I’m alive. That’s it.” 

He popped a couple of aspirin and sat down. 

Thor and Natasha came in looking a little worse for wear but still smiling at one another. Rhodey looked as hungover as Tony. 

“Whose funeral is it?” Rocket fairly shouted as he bounced into the room. “Can’t hold your booze, Stark?” He nudged Tony. 

Steve turned back to his coffee pot, smiling to himself. 

“If you don’t talk a little quieter, I might be eating raccoon for dinner,” Tony told Rocket. 

“Ooh, poor thing!” 

Tony didn’t take the bait so Rocket settled down, too. They all ate a little toast and some fruit. No one seemed very hungry this morning. 

“Anyone heard from Wakanda?” Rhodey asked. 

“Queen Shuri has invited us all to come stay there while we work on – what to do,” Steve told them. “The message came in during the night.”

“I think I’ll stick around here,” Rhodey said. “There are still politicians to deal with and there are a few recruits who need someone to teach them. Someone needs to mind the place.” 

Steve looked around. “Everyone else want to go?” 

They all nodded. 

“I’ll let her know. We can take one of the Quinjets. We’ll plan on leaving about one this afternoon,” Steve said. 

*

Shuri was looking forward to Stark arriving. She wanted to get a look at his suits and the arc reactor. Her panther suit was better but he had some nice innovations on his, too. 

She had repaired some damage to the Cyborg woman’s components and started looking at her software. She thought she could replace some of the crude repairs Thanos had made to her to make her more efficient and maybe a little more organic looking. Under that fierce and frightening killing machine was actually a scared woman. Shuri wanted to find more of that woman in Nebula. It was buried deep. 

Banner was a delight, so self-deprecating yet brilliant. And he was funny, too. She would love to see the Hulk but he said the ‘big guy’ was on hiatus. That could wait. 

She picked up a container holding the dust from her brother. She opened it and removed a very tiny amount, only a few grams. 

“I hope that wasn’t something important,” she said the container. “I do need to analyze you and see what Thanos left us to work with.” 

She put the bit on a small glass slide and slid it under one of the few old fashioned things in her futuristic lab, a microscope. 

“Hmmmm. Fascinating,” she said as she gazed at it. 

*

Natasha had stayed in Thor’s room all night. They had gone to breakfast together and he seemed content to hang out with her while she was packing for Wakanda. 

“Don’t you have clothes to pack?”

“Nope. I found some stuff here that fits and it’s already packed. I wear the armor stuff mostly. It sort of just appears though I’m not sure how.”

He was not wearing armor now. He had on jeans and a blue t-shirt that was a little tight. He looked pretty delicious, Natasha thought. 

“Is my being here a problem?” Thor asked her. 

She realized when he asked that it really wasn’t a problem at all. Bruce and she had been together since Thanos, but it seemed a little forced. Maybe the simplicity of a relationship with Thor was what she needed right now. She’d figure out what to tell Bruce when she got to Wakanda. 

“I’m glad you’re here, Thor.” She reached over and squeezed his big hand. 

He smiled sweetly at her. 

*

Tony was going over contingencies with Rhodey while Steve stowed everyone’s gear on the Quinjet. He was looking forward to seeing Shuri. She was brilliant, so brilliant that it made him feel antiquated now and then. 

“Everything is onboard. I need to find Rocket. I haven’t seen him since breakfast,” Steve told Tony as he headed to Rocket’s quarters. 

He tapped on the door.

“Yeah? What d’ya want?” Rocket asked without opening the door. 

“You okay?”

“Peachy,” came the sarcastic reply. 

Steve opened the door and saw Rocket sitting on his bed with a small piece of wood in his hand. He knew immediately that it was a piece of Rocket’s companion, the tree creature, Groot. 

“You miss him.”

“Nah. He was just a giant toothpick anyway.” But when Rocket looked up, Steve thought he’d never seen a sadder expression on anyone’s face. A single tear dripped down his furry face. Steve understood Rocket’s grief. He mourned Bucky once again and it hurt as much as it had the first time. 

“We’re wheels up in about twenty minutes. Just thought I’d let you know.” 

Rocket nodded. “Thanks. And don’t mention what you saw to anyone.” 

It took a moment for Steve to realize Rocket meant his tears. He nodded to Rocket and closed the door. 

*

Bruce, Nebula and Shuri greeted them when they landed. 

Nebula made a beeline for Steve and whispered in his ear. “I told you to choose the god. I see you ignored me as he has a new companion.” Thor and Nat had disembarked holding hands. 

He laughed and hugged her, something that shocked her more than if he’d punched her. 

“It’s good to see you again, too, Nebula.” 

She actually made an expression that might have been a smile. It was hard to tell. 

Bruce looked a little oddly at Natasha and Thor but then smiled in what might have been relief. 

“How are you, Nat?” He asked her. 

“I’m okay.” She looked at him hard. “Are you?”

“Yeah, I think for once I am.” 

Rocket and Tony both were talking to Shuri.

“Mr. Stark! I am happy to have another brain to pick. I think Bruce is tiring of my questions!” 

Bruce heard her and laughed. “Tired of not knowing the answers. Tony, this woman makes us look like dinosaurs.” 

“I’m just Tony, your, uh, majesty.”

“And I am Shuri. I only act like a queen when my mother or my generals make me.” 

Shuri threw them all a nice little banquet to welcome them to her home.

“Tomorrow we work but tonight, we eat, drink and be merry!” She announced at the dinner and they all did just that. 

*

Stephen Strange still had the sensation of floating but he seemed more able to move now though there seemed to be nowhere to go. 

“Can you feel it?” The Ancient One asked him. 

“What? I am rather without much feeling at all.” 

“Be very still and let your mind wander free. You will feel it.” 

He used the meditation practices that he had learned under her instruction though it was different without a real body to relax. He did still have a mind and when that mind reached relaxation enough to float free, he did feel it. 

There was a vast presence all around him. 

And it was not friendly.


End file.
